We like vegetables so much, that I’ll even load them up on dishes where they wouldn’t normally be much featured; many appear there as miniatures, or in dried form. This time, while it was only a late breakfast, on the plate were fresh tomatoes, a little bitter green, one small scallion, a tiny sweet pepper, a micro mustard, and 2 ‘budding herbs’.

Worth noting: All 6 yolks made it to the plates with their integrity uncompromised (the yolks remained whole), and I wish I knew what I did to get the feathered edges of the whites to caramelize, and be so delightfully crispy (I did add a little butter to the pan before breaking the eggs into it, since there was very little bacon fat left after the bacon was removed, but that’s pretty much what I usually do).

• the meal was an assemblage which included 4 thick strips of bacon and 6 eggs (3 Americauna* and 3 standard), all from Millport Dairy Farm, 2 heirloom tomatoes from Alewife Farm, a bit of puntarelle from Tamarack Hollow Farm, sliced red scallion from Berried Treasures Farm, budding marjoram from Stokes Farm, budding basil from Windfall Farms, one small sliced aji dulce pepper from Eckerton Hill Farm, micro red mustard from Two Guys from Woodbridge, and toast from a terrific She Wolf Bakery Miche
• the music was Bach’s Mass in B minor, performed by Philippe Herreweghe conducting the Collegium Vocale Gent 

 

* in the picture, the egg to the lower left is an Americauna

It was one of those times when the amount of seafood was going to be either too little or too much. At first I decided to just go with the rather small piece of flounder, and make up the difference with an additional vegetable, but then I went back to the fishers’ stall and asked for a half dozen scallops, to make a first course.

Barry and I were both glad I did, because, while the flounder was very fresh and very good, the scallops, prepared very plainly, were really exceptional.

• six one-ounce scallops from American Seafood Company at Saturday’s Chelsea’s Down to Earth Farmers Market on 23rd Street, from American Seafood Company, washed, drained and very thoroughly dried on paper towels (twice), generously seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, pan grilled for about 90 seconds on each side, arranged on the plates, finished with a squeeze of organic lemon from Whole Foods Market and a good Campania olive oil (Lamparelli O.R.O.), then sprinkled with fresh dill flowers from Alewife Farm
• two red tomatoes, one larger heirloom from Alewife Farm and a smaller, different varietal from Eckerton Hill Farm, sliced, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, warmed inside a shallow copper pan, finished with some budding basil from Windfall Farms
• slices from a Sullivan Street Bakery ‘Pugliese’

The main course was a little more complicated, but still very easily put together.

• one thick 13-ounce flounder filet, also from American Seafood Company, placed inside an oval tin-lined copper au gratin pan, skinned side down, the top surface spread with a mixture of one tablespoon of zest from a Whole Foods organic lemon, one teaspoon of a pungent dried Sicilian oregano from Buon Italia (where it’s sold dried and still attached to the stem), one teaspoon or more of balsamic vinegar, three fourths of a tablespoon of olive oil, almost a teaspoon of lightly-crushed black peppercorns, a quarter to a half of a teaspoon of sea salt, and most of one finely-chopped Rocambole garlic clove from Keith’s Farm, baked for just under 15 minutes in a 350º oven, removed, cut into 2 pieces and arranged on the plates, drizzled with some juice from the lemon which supplied the zest earlier, garnished with micro chervil from Two Guys from Woodbridge

• four small Turkish eggplant from Norwich Meadows Farm, cut horizontally into 3 or more slices, mixed with a little olive oil, one large chopped Rocambole garlic clove from Keith’s Farm, sea salt, and freshly-ground black pepper, pan-grilled on an enameled cast iron ribbed pan over a brisk flame, turning once or twice, some sliced red scallion from Berried Treasures Farm and 5 or 6 pitted and halved Gaeta olives added near the end, everything tossed inside a bowl with chopped ‘blue licorice’ (Korean mint/Indian mint) from Lani’s Farm, then arranged on the plates and drizzled with olive oil
• one small green tomato, also from Norwich Meadows Farm, halved, seasoned with salt and black pepper, pan-grilled in the same as the eggplant, arranged on the plates near the flounder, drizzled with a littel olive oil

 

• the wine was a French (Savoie) white, Domaine Labbe, Abymes Savoie, 2016, from Flatiron Wines
• the music was Handel’s 1724  opera seria, ‘Tamerlano’, Trevor Pinnock conducting The English Concert

There’s no real connection between the first and second courses of this meal, other than the fact that the first directly preceded the second, and the second directly succeeded the first.

The appetizer was merely assembled.

• a container of grilled artichokes with mint leaves and oil, from Eataly, divided onto 2 plates, served with a modified mayonnaise which started with Sir Kensington’s, plain, Classic Mayonnaise (made by ex-Brown students, with headquarters in SoHo), to which I added half that amount of Sir Kensington’s Dijon Mustard, a bit of juice from a Whole Foods Market organic lemon, a pinch of turbinado sugar, a very small amount of finely-chopped Rocambole garlic from Keith’s Farm, a bit of chopped micro chervil from Two Guys from Woodbridge, and a pinch of Maldon salt, garnished with some more, still whole, micro chervil
• slices of a sesame baguette from Bread Alone Bakery

The main course actually had to be cooked.

• two 9-ounce Spanish mackerel filets from Pura Vida Seafood, washed, dried, brushed with olive oil, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, pan grilled on a seasoned cast iron double-burner grill pan over high heat for a total of about 6 or 7 minutes, first skin side down, then turned half way through, removed, arranged on the plates and dressed with a salsa that had been assembled just before, consisting of 7 ounces of a mix of (mostly) heirloom tomatoes from several local farms, chopped roughly or halved, tossed into a small bowl with a teaspoon or more of rinsed and drained Sicilian salted capers, half a tablespoon of juice from a Whole Foods Market organic lemon, a pinch of sea salt, and a bit of freshly-ground black pepper, the salsa garnished with some pungent basil buds from Windfall Farms
• two crookneck yellow summer squash from Windfall Farms, cut into 2-cm rounds, sautéed in a little olive oil for a few minutes over a medium-high flame inside a large antique high-sided heavy copper pot, turning once, until both sides were well on their way to being caramelized, near the end of that time part of a length of a stem of fresh shallot from Tamarack Hollow Farm, cut into one-cm sections, was added and stirred into the squash sections until softened, the pan removed from the flame, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, the vegetables placed inside a bowl where the they were tossed with a few pitted kalamata olives, one small finely-chopped red aji dulce pepper from Eckerton Hill Farm, a little lemon juice, and chopped ‘blue licorice’ (aka Korean mint, or Indian mint) from Lani’s Farm
• the wine was a New York (Long Island) rosé, Wölffer Estate Rosé 2017
• the music was Lully’s 1683 tragédie en musique, ‘Phaéton’, Christophe Rousset conducting Les Talens Lyriques and the Chœur de Chambre de Namur

I had no idea what I was doing until I did it.

I started with the chorizo, picked out the cucumber, and then the potato, but because the cucumber was small and because I had no idea when I would use a potential third vegetable if it wasn’t in this dinner, 2 mild peppers were also tabbed, almost at the last moment.

The table welcomed a bit each of Spain, New York City (Yorkville and Chelsea), India, Vermont, Venezuela, Pennsylvania, New York’s Orange County, Connecticut, New Jersey, New Mexico, the Rhineland, and seventeenth-century France. The meal had no dominant ethnicity, but the plate looked pretty interesting, and it was all very tasty.

• four links of ‘Spanish Style Chorizo’ from Schaller & Weber’s Yorkville store, pan-fried inside an oval enameled cast iron pan, served with an apricot mustard from Dixon Farm Stand in the Chelsea Market
• one 6-ounce ‘Poona Kheera’ cucumber (a variety sometimes labelled, less accurately, as a ‘Sikkim cucumber’), from Norwich Meadows Farm, sliced unpeeled into rounds 2 cm thick, sautéed in a little olive oil inside a medium antique high-sided copper pot over a medium-high flame, lightly-sprinkled with salt each time (I should have allowed the pieces to begin carbonizing, but I was otherwise distracted), adding a few 2 cm-thick slices of a fresh bulbous shallot from Tamarack Hollow Farm and most of an aji dulce pepper (not hot) from Eckerton Hill Farm more than half way through, seasoned with freshly-ground black pepper, arranged on the plates, garnished with fresh dill buds from Willow Wisp Farm
• small red skinned new potatoes from Willow Wisp Farm, boiled in well-salted water, drained, dried in the still-warm large vintage Pyrex glass pot, rolled in a little olive oil, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, tossed with basil buds from Windfall Farms and garnished with bronze micro fennel from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• two Anaheim peppers from Oak Grove Plantation seared in a little olive oil inside a small vintage seasoned cast iron pan until they had blistered, sprinkled with sea salt and black pepper
• the wine was a German (Pfalz) red, Ein Liter Rhodt, Stefan Meyer 2015 (a blend of Portugieser, Saint Laurent and Dornfelder), from Astor Wines
• the music was Lully’s 1686 tragédie en musique, ‘Armide’, Philippe Herreweghe directing the Collegium Vocale and La Chappel Royale

We’ve been big fans of pimientos de padron for more than a decade, later including Shishito peppers, their east Asian cousins, in the same category.

The excellent Pollock is a very different thing, and in its case our modest fan club only goes back about 18 months, but we’re as fond of it as we are of the peppers. Curiously, the American general public’s awareness of the beauties of our genus pollachius is today roughly at the same level as the peppers were to us, and, I would say, to many others, when we first tried them in 2007: Most people are something of a state of ignorance about Pollock, mostly because they never hear about it.

I decided that was a respectable excuse for including the two in the same meal.

• a couple handful of Shishito peppers from Alewiife Farm, washed, drained, dried, then sautéed over medium high heat in a broad cast iron pan for a few minutes, stirring, then salted and served on plates, more, Maldon salt added
• slices of a sesame baguette from Bread Alone Bakery (they’ve decided to put the sesame inside, apparently to reduce defections of the seeds)

The pollock showed up for the main course.

• two 8-ounce white-fleshed pollock filets from American Seafood Company, rinsed, dried, halved, and seasoned on both sides with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, placed skin side down inside a buttered oval tin-lined copper gratin pan, spread with a mixture of softened unsalted Organic Valley ‘Cultured Pasture Butter’ that had been mixed with zest from most of an organic Whole Foods Market lemon, a little chopped, almost mature Rocambole garlic from Keith’s Farm, slices of a section of one young red onion (something like a red scallion) from Berried Treasures Farm, a bit of a finely-chopped aji dulce pepper (with a mild, smoky flavor, and sweet, not hot) from Eckerton Hill Farm, the fish baked for about 15-17 minutes at 350º, removed to 2 plates, the little bit of cooking juices that had accumulated poured over the top, and a teaspoon or so of Sicilian salted capers, which had first been rinsed, drained, dried and heated briefly inside a small antique enameled cast iron porringer in a bit of olive oil, scattered while still warm on top of the fillets, along with the oil in which they had been heated, the pollock finished with a garnish of what looks in the image like green fireworks ‘brocades’, but was actually only sprays of dill flower buds from Willow Wisp Farm

• something of a mélange of heirloom (and other?) tomatoes from Eckerton Hill Farm, some of them sliced, heated in a little olive oil inside a medium high-sided antique copper pot, seasoned with salt and pepper, sprinkled with some extremely pungent basil buds from Windfall Farms
• there were more slices of the same Bread Alone Bakery baguette, to help with enjoying the 2 sauces on the plates
• the wine was a California (Central Coast/Santé Ynez Valley) white, Rick Boyer Santa Ynez Valley Dry White Blend 2017, from Naked Wines
  by Rick Boyer
• the music was Christoph Willibald, Ritter von Gluck’s 1777 opera, ‘Armide’,  Marc Minkowski conducting Les Musiciens du Louvre 

Licorice-d cod.

The only thing about this meal that was not familiar was one of the herbs that found its way into it, with some help from Lani’s Farm.

‘Blue licorice‘, is what the little sign read, but it wasn’t blue, and it didn’t look like anything I knew that was associated with one of my favorite flavors. I looked it up right there, while standing in front of its little bucket.

What I learned from a quick scan allowed me to imagine using it in preparing the cod filet I had bought moments before.

And that’s what I did, although I played it safe by including the more conventional parsley in the mix.

• a very fresh cod fillet (19 ounces) from P.E. & D.D. Seafood, divided into 4 portions, 2 larger, 2 smaller (cutting 2 portions of the same size would have been almost a geometric impossibiity, because of the shape of the filet), dredged lightly in a seasoned, coarse, stone-ground local flour, from the Blew family of Oak Grove Mills Mills, that I had purchased in the Union Square Greenmarket, then dipped into a mixture of one beaten Americauna chicken egg from Millport Dairy Farm into which a cup of a combination of chopped Italian parsley from Keith’s Farm and ‘blue licorice’ (agastache rugosa, aka Korean mint or Indian mint) from Lani’s Farm, before being placed in a mix of olive oil and butter (one tablespoon of each) over a medium-high flame, sautéed inside a heavy oval vintage copper pan, turning once, for a total of about 7 or 8 minutes, drizzled with juice from an organic Whole Foods Market lemon and garnished with bronze micro fennel from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• two halved tomatoes (a large yellow heirloom from Eckerton Hill Farm and a smaller red one from Norwich Meadows Farm) seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, pan-grilled, arranged on the plates, sprinkled with some torn leaves of Gotham Greens Rooftop basil from Whole Foods Market

• some incredibly sweet small white ‘freshly-dug’ new potatoes from Campo Rosso Farm, washed, scrubbing lightly, boiled in well-salted water, drained, dried in the still-warm vintage glass Pyrex pot, rolled in a little olive oil, tossed with slivers of a red scallion from Berried Treasures Farm, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, garnished with oregano buds from Norwich Meadows Farm
• the wine, a gift from an artist acquaintance, Ryan Weston Shook, who had designed its label (and that of other wines from the same winemaker), was a California (Monterey County) white, Au Jus, 2015 Monterey County Chardonnay
• the music was Handel’s 1733 masterpiece, the opera seria, ‘Orlando’, René Jacobs leading his B’Rock Baroque Orchestra Ghent, Bejun Mehta in the title role

We were anxious to find a good day for enjoying the second of the 2 racks of lamb I had gotten from Walter Adam‘s farm stall in the Union Square Greenmarket 3 months ago, although I hadn’t expected it would happen during a New York August. What made it possible was a new split-system AC that turned out to be fully up to the challenge of an oven set at almost 500º. I didn’t even work up a sweat; it was an impressive performance (referring to the unit).

At least the vegetables observed both the look and the warmth of the season (the colors were right, and only one of the 2 asked to borrow any heat at all).

• one 18-ounce rack of baby lamb from Shannon Brook Farm, trimmed (removing the ‘bark’, or skin covering the fat; cutting off all excess fat; ‘Frenching’, conservatively, and cleaning the ribs of all meat and fat; removing the rubbery tendon that runs along the spine; cutting out the chine altogether), cut into two 4-rib sections, seasoned generously with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper and the oven lit and set to 475º (reduced to 375º once the lamb was put into the oven), one tablespoon of olive oil heated inside a small heavy, enameled cast iron pan until hot but not smoking, the lamb placed inside to brown, the arced, bone side down first, followed by all the other surfaces in turn, for about one minute per side, removed and all sides but the ends rolled in a shallow bowl which held a mixture of one fourth of a cup of whole yellow mustard seeds [less than 2 tablespoons would actually be enough] and 2 teaspoons of Sicilian fennel seeds, both toasted together inside a large vintage seasoned cast iron skillet over medium heat until they had become fragrant, at which time they were immediately transferred to the bowl in which the lamb was to be rolled, in order to cool slightly, the meat now returned to the pan in which it had been seared, from which most of the fat had been poured out, transferred to the oven (now set at 375º), roasted until a thermometer inserted into the center of the lamb registered 135º, or medium-rare, or roughly 20 minutes [I left them in the oven a bit too long this time, although there was still some red when they were first set onto the cutting surface], removed from the oven and the pan, allowed to stand at least 10 minutes, each of the 2 sections cut into double chops, arranged on the plates and drizzled with Whole Foods Market house Portuguese olive oil, finished with a garnish of micro red mustard from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• two ‘Opalka‘ plum, or paste tomatoes from Eckerton Hill Farm, halved, dried thoroughly, placed cut side down on a plate sprinkled with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, pan-grilled and finished with a dab of olive oil and a bit of balsamic vinegar,
• more puntarelle, or cicoria di catalogna, from the tied bundle I’d purchased from Tamarack Hollow Farm, prepared as they had been the first time, meaning thoroughly washed, the leaves separated and placed inside a large bowl of ice water where they were allowed to sit outside the refrigerator for about an hour, or a little more, drained and dried (using a kitchen towel), placed inside the now emptied and dried bowl, and some of the vinegar mixture that was prepared but not used a few days earlier poured over it, the greens seasoned very lightly with sea salt, and a tablespoon or so of olive oil added, along with freshly-ground black pepper, the salad mixed or tossed at the last minute and arranged on the plates
• the wine was a California (El Dorado) red, Matt Parish Pilot Hill Gang El Dorado County Red Blend 2016, from Naked Wines
• the music was Haydn’s ‘Die Jahreszeiten’ (The Seasons), Philippe Herreweghe conducting the Orchestre des Champs-Elysees and the Collegium Vocale Gent

It was all good. It also wasn’t really breakfast time any more, by the time we enjoyed it, even in the terms of our own late-eating habits.

• from Millport Dairy Farm there was thick bacon and Americauna chicken eggs (with thinly-sliced new shallot stems from Tamarack Hollow Farm, fresh oregano buds from Norwich Meadows Farm, and bronze micro fennel from Two Guys from Woodbridge, home-dried habanada pepper and fresh oregano buds from Norwich Meadows Farm; there was also a mix of small tomatoes from Alewife Farm with sliced red scallions from Berried Treasures Farm and Gotham Greens Rooftop basil from Whole Foods, and, finally, lightly-toasted slices of 2 different breads (polenta boule and twelve Grain & Seed bread, both from Bread Alone
• our Sunday music was the album, ‘In Paradisum, The Music of Victoria and Palestrina‘, performed by the Hilliard Ensemble

The cod liver tasted a bit like foie gras, but without the guilt, which is to say, it was delicious.

• four ounces of Icelandic canned cod liver (Skansen) from the Schaller & Weber store, served with little more than pinches of a few condiments (freshly-ground black pepper, Sicilian wild fennel pollen from Buon Italia, fresh dill buds from Alewife Farm, sliced red scallion from Berried Treasures Farm, and slices of an organic Whole Foods Market lemon)
• slices of a Fruit & Seed Brød from Bread Alone (perhaps a mørkt rug frugt brød?)

The main course featured wild shrimp, which I believe has never shown up on this blog before. When I have cooked this delectable crustacean, it’s always been the excellent farmed shrimp that Jean Claude Frajmund raises up the Hudson, in Newburgh, New York. Eco Shrimp Garden now appears in the Union Square Greenmarket on Saturdays only, and that’s the day I normally do not appear there (mostly because of the weekend crowds of gawkers, and because we are inclined to do other stuff that afternoon.

But I do usually pay a brief visit to the Chelsea Down to Earth Farmers Market on 23rd Street, the little market which is set up less than a block from us every Saturday. This time the market’s regular seafood vender had ‘super jumbo’ shrimp that one of their boats had netted, beheaded, and quickly frozen while fishing in North Carolina waters that week.

They were almost local, or at least more local than the Gulf, and way more local than southeast Asia.

The image of the shrimp sautéing mimics that of the cucumbers I had started a few minutes earlier.

• one teaspoon of chopped, still slightly immature Rocambole garlic from Keith’s Farm heated inside a very heavy 13 1/2″ cast iron pan over a very low flame until the garlic had colored nicely, followed by a pinch of Spanish saffron, one dried chipotle pepper from Northshire Farms in the Union Square Greenmarket, one crushed section of a dried orange-gold habanada pepper, and a teaspoon of freshly-ground dried cumin seed from Eataly, all of it stirred together for a minute or two before 20 ‘extra jumbo’ North Carolina shrimp were placed inside the pan (I had cut through the length of their backs, from head to tail, for ease of shelling after they were cooked and on the plates), the shrimp seasoned with salt and pepper and the heat brought up a bit, the shrimp cooked until firm while being turned twice, served on the plates with a generous squeeze of lemon, garnished with chopped parsley from Keith’s Farm
• five tiny halved green tomatoes from Campo Rosso Farm, sautéed in a little olive oil inside a small vintage Corning Pyrex Flameware blue-glass pan, seasoned with Maldon salt and freshly-ground black pepper, garnished with fresh dill buds from Alewife Farm

• two ‘Sikkim cucumbers’, which, to me, actually look more like Hmong Red, weighing one pound, from Norwich Meadows Farm, unpeeled, sliced into rounds 2 cm thick, sautéed in a little olive oil inside a large enameled cast iron pan over a medium-high flame, turning twice, sprinkling with salt each time, each side allowed to begin carbonizing, adding slices from the stem of a fresh bulbous shallot from Tamarack Hollow Farm more than half way through, seasoned with freshly-ground black pepper, arranged on the plates, garnished with micro red basil from Two Guys from Woodbridge, and drizzled with a little olive oil
• the wine was a California (Lodi) white, F. Stephen Millier Angels Reserve White Blend Lodi 2016, from Naked Wines
• the music was from 2 albums, Dylan Mattingly’s ‘Stream of Stars’, and the International Contemporary Ensemble & George Lewis’ ‘The Will To Adorn’

We weren’t certain when, or absolutely certain where, we would be eating last night. We were invited to a friend’s birthday party, in Boerum Hill, where we celebrated earlier in the evening, and we lingered longer than we had expected to. I must however have assumed all along that I’d end up cooking dinner, since I had purchased a beautiful big section of a bluefish fillet in the Greenmarket that afternoon, and I would never have even thought about waiting untio the next day to cook it.

We always eat late, and this was the weekend, so it wasn’t entirely incredible that we wouldn’t be sitting down to eat until 12:20 in the morning. What would have been less credible was any liklihood that it would be one of my best meals ever.

We began supper at 12:20 in the morning and it was one of my best meals ever.

• one 21-ounce bluefish from Pura vida Seafood, rinsed, cut into 2 sections, rubbed with olive oil and a little Columela Rioja 30 Year Reserva sherry vinegar, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, placed inside a vintage oval tin-lined copper au gratin pan, sprinkled liberally with a very pungent dried Sicilian oregano from Buon Italia and a bit of dried peperoncino Calabresi secchi, also from Buon Italia, then covered/layered with thin slices of one small red onion, thin slices of one ripe medium heirloom red tomato, and more than a tablespoon of chopped fresh oregano buds, all from Norwich Meadows Farm; plus 8 or 9 pitted and halved Gaeta olives from Eataly; and several thin slices of a Whole Foods Market organic lemon, the pan placed inside a 425º and baked for just under 20 minutes (rather than the usual 15 minutes, because the fish was thicker than those I had cooked in the past), arranged on the plates and garnished with micro bronze fennel from Two Guys from Woodbridge
• romano beans from Berried Treasures Farm, parboiled for a few minutes, drained, dried, reheated in olive oil inside a heavy seasoned vintage cast iron pan, seasoned with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper, tossed with fresh dill buds from Alewife Farm, arranged on the plates, more dill and a drizzle of olive oil added
• the wine was a California (Mendocino and Lake counties) white, Scott Peterson Rumpus California Sauvignon Blanc 2017, from Naked Wines

There was a sweet, and it seemed made to follow this Mediterranean entrée.

• an unadorned scoop or so of incredibly delicious Old Mother Hubbert Dairy lemon basil gelato (ingredients: non fat dry milk, lemon juice, orange juice, fresh basil, lemon zest), produced at the Back to the Future Farm, near Middletown, NY, that I had picked up at Rose Hubbert‘s stand at the Union Square Greenmarket

 

• the music throughout was Jean-Baptiste Lully’s 1685 opera, ‘Roland’, Christophe Rousset conducting Les Talens Lyriques and the Lausanne Opera Chorus